The Chennai Corporation has started incineration of waste collected from residences of persons infected with COVID-19. Waste from houses where residents are quarantined is also being incinerated. Earlier, the waste from ‘infected’ homes was disposed of using the technique of ‘deep burial’, at designated locations in various neighborhoods.
“Chennai Corporation has started incineration of the waste from homes of the quarantined in areas such as Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Tondiarpet and Royapuram. Many zones such as Sholinganallur and Perungudi have done deep burial of the waste. Incineration is safe. So we will incinerate all the waste. At least two tonnes of waste have been incinerated on Friday at the incineration plant in Manali,” said a Corporation official.
As many as 5,768 houses in the city have started sending waste to the incinerator in Manali. Some of these homes have residents who are on quarantine following infection of family members. Some of the residents in these homes have also been quarantined based on information received by contact tracing of COVID-19 cases.
Direct route
Officials said the residents of all 5,768 houses are cooperating with Corporation workers in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the city. “The conservancy workers will give the residents a yellow bag and chemicals for disinfection. The residents will seal the bag with adequate quantities of disinfectants and hand it over to Corporation workers.
The workers will take the waste directly in battery-operated vehicles to the incinerator. The waste will not go to any transfer station, to reduce the risk of infection in the neighborhood of the transfer station,” said an official.
Hand-wash facilities
On Friday, the Corporation began setting up hand-washing facilities in all neighborhoods for conservancy workers. “The workers will use disinfectant to wash hands after completion of work. Over 19,000 workers are carrying out garbage clearance along 33,000 streets. More than 90% workers are reporting for duty. We have provided masks and gloves for the workers. All workers are taken home by special transport vehicles,” said an official.
Royapuram is the zone sending the largest quantity of waste for incineration. As many as 2,310 families under quarantine in the zone have handed over waste to Corporation workers for incineration. On Friday, 2.25 tonnes of waste were incinerated and 2.29 tonnes buried at designated locations.
